ricki
10-19-2005, 05:09 PM
Here is a repost from 2002 off the original FKA yahoogroups email list:
Florida Riding and Weather (long)
The following email was inspired by a post on kiteforum.com and the start of our frontal wind season. Here's to lots of nice strong, clean frontal winds for all of us this season!
Florida only has 1350 miles or about 2200 km or coastline to ride off of.
Assuming you need a clear area of about 300 ft. wide to launch, that equates to almost 24,000 possible launch areas. So there is a tremendous amount of potential rider area out there, IF we don't turn the heat up on bans and restrictions through careless riding. Much of that coastline is thinly populated and wide open to responsible kiteboarding.
In mid December air and water temperatures should definitely be a lot warmer than in Holland. It will generally be cooler the more northerly you are in the state and warmer the closer you are to the southern end. Because of the influence of the Florida Current, often mislabeled as the Gulfstream, the east coast is usually a little warmer than the west coast. You can find out about normal temperature ranges for various parts of the state online at some of the sites referenced here.
We are fairly dependent on cold fronts sweeping down across the USA for wind usually from October through April. Normally fronts arrive once to twice per week and are accompanied for part of a day to several days with wind in the 15 to 20 mph or higher range depending on the strength of the front. In intervening times wind can be calm to 10 to 15 mph from varying directions.
With an oncoming cold front the wind normally shifts to the SW for a short time, then west for hours to sometimes days and then NW for a short time to several days. While in the NW the temperature may drop 5 to 20 degrees and infrequently more and the wind may pickup into the 15 to 20 mph or higher range. While it is in the W to NW conditions can be particularly good on the west coast as these winds are onshore there. As the front moves along and they can stall or halt moving and even dissipate. As the front moves into the state the wind shifts to the N for a short time and then to the NE. The wind can stay in the 15 to 20 mph range or going higher in stronger fronts from the NE. This direction favors many launches on the east coast as it is onshore there. Eventually the wind will slide to the E and SE with warming temperatures and usually diminished wind speeds. The whole clockwise process repeats with the next front heralded by a shift of the wind to the south normally for a few hours or less.
Again there are spots on both the east and west coasts that can be rideable in winds from virtually any direction. The thing is that the quality of the wind can drop, i.e. gusty conditions when it is off the land. Offshore wind conditions should be religiously avoided when riding in the open ocean or Gulf of Mexico areas. It may be easy to go out but not necessarily to come back in! The Florida Keys offer some unusual opportunities as both eastern and western launches abound opening this area up to winds from most directions. Of course there are very few shoreside launches in the Keys, you need to walk 300 ft. offshore and do an assisted launch to enjoy all that calm, frequently fast riding down there.
I am less familiar with weather dynamics in the extreme northern part of the state from the Panhandle eastward to Jacksonville and St. Augustine. This part of the state may have some unusual weather interactions being at the junction of the peninsula of Florida with the rest of the USA, the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida (and the warm waters of the Florida Current). Checkout ikitesurf.com for wind conditions and talk with local riders and the FKA area coordinators listed at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FKSA/files/ up that way and statewide for that matter, for insight on conditions.
As these fronts normally swing in from the NW they hit the Panhandle first and ease eastward and migrate slowly or sometimes quickly to the south. Fronts are often easily seen on satellite imagery and weather radar on various internet sites such as weatherunderground.com,
http://www.nws.noaa.gov and ikitesurf.com.
CAUTION: fronts sometimes have violent squalls or storms at the leading
edge of the front. The good news is that these squall bands are generally
not wide and as a rule pass by quickly. Checkout the weather radar and
ikitesurf.com real-time wind reports for evidence of embedded squalls and unstable violent gusty winds. If you see them you would be wise not to risk going kiteboarding until they have passed on to the south or have
dissipated.
So you may have rain at the onset of a "wet front" with a leading squall
band followed by cooler, drying and windier conditions behind it. There are also "dry fronts" that don't have these pronounced squall bands, forecasts, analysis and imagery should establish which type is expected. Sometimes you can easily time when the winds should arrive and from what direct by looking at the sat. imagery, radar and real-time wind reports.
Last year was a mild year for fronts with few actually making it very far
into Florida. This is unusual. This year, early indications are for a more
normal year of good to occasionally strong fronts, I hope. You can ride in
wind from most any direction in isolated areas on both the east and west
coasts of Florida. Typically though more areas on the east coast open up
for N to E to S winds while the west coast favors N to W to S winds.
FKA, Inc.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FKSA/
transcribed by:
Rick Iossi
Florida Riding and Weather (long)
The following email was inspired by a post on kiteforum.com and the start of our frontal wind season. Here's to lots of nice strong, clean frontal winds for all of us this season!
Florida only has 1350 miles or about 2200 km or coastline to ride off of.
Assuming you need a clear area of about 300 ft. wide to launch, that equates to almost 24,000 possible launch areas. So there is a tremendous amount of potential rider area out there, IF we don't turn the heat up on bans and restrictions through careless riding. Much of that coastline is thinly populated and wide open to responsible kiteboarding.
In mid December air and water temperatures should definitely be a lot warmer than in Holland. It will generally be cooler the more northerly you are in the state and warmer the closer you are to the southern end. Because of the influence of the Florida Current, often mislabeled as the Gulfstream, the east coast is usually a little warmer than the west coast. You can find out about normal temperature ranges for various parts of the state online at some of the sites referenced here.
We are fairly dependent on cold fronts sweeping down across the USA for wind usually from October through April. Normally fronts arrive once to twice per week and are accompanied for part of a day to several days with wind in the 15 to 20 mph or higher range depending on the strength of the front. In intervening times wind can be calm to 10 to 15 mph from varying directions.
With an oncoming cold front the wind normally shifts to the SW for a short time, then west for hours to sometimes days and then NW for a short time to several days. While in the NW the temperature may drop 5 to 20 degrees and infrequently more and the wind may pickup into the 15 to 20 mph or higher range. While it is in the W to NW conditions can be particularly good on the west coast as these winds are onshore there. As the front moves along and they can stall or halt moving and even dissipate. As the front moves into the state the wind shifts to the N for a short time and then to the NE. The wind can stay in the 15 to 20 mph range or going higher in stronger fronts from the NE. This direction favors many launches on the east coast as it is onshore there. Eventually the wind will slide to the E and SE with warming temperatures and usually diminished wind speeds. The whole clockwise process repeats with the next front heralded by a shift of the wind to the south normally for a few hours or less.
Again there are spots on both the east and west coasts that can be rideable in winds from virtually any direction. The thing is that the quality of the wind can drop, i.e. gusty conditions when it is off the land. Offshore wind conditions should be religiously avoided when riding in the open ocean or Gulf of Mexico areas. It may be easy to go out but not necessarily to come back in! The Florida Keys offer some unusual opportunities as both eastern and western launches abound opening this area up to winds from most directions. Of course there are very few shoreside launches in the Keys, you need to walk 300 ft. offshore and do an assisted launch to enjoy all that calm, frequently fast riding down there.
I am less familiar with weather dynamics in the extreme northern part of the state from the Panhandle eastward to Jacksonville and St. Augustine. This part of the state may have some unusual weather interactions being at the junction of the peninsula of Florida with the rest of the USA, the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of Florida (and the warm waters of the Florida Current). Checkout ikitesurf.com for wind conditions and talk with local riders and the FKA area coordinators listed at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FKSA/files/ up that way and statewide for that matter, for insight on conditions.
As these fronts normally swing in from the NW they hit the Panhandle first and ease eastward and migrate slowly or sometimes quickly to the south. Fronts are often easily seen on satellite imagery and weather radar on various internet sites such as weatherunderground.com,
http://www.nws.noaa.gov and ikitesurf.com.
CAUTION: fronts sometimes have violent squalls or storms at the leading
edge of the front. The good news is that these squall bands are generally
not wide and as a rule pass by quickly. Checkout the weather radar and
ikitesurf.com real-time wind reports for evidence of embedded squalls and unstable violent gusty winds. If you see them you would be wise not to risk going kiteboarding until they have passed on to the south or have
dissipated.
So you may have rain at the onset of a "wet front" with a leading squall
band followed by cooler, drying and windier conditions behind it. There are also "dry fronts" that don't have these pronounced squall bands, forecasts, analysis and imagery should establish which type is expected. Sometimes you can easily time when the winds should arrive and from what direct by looking at the sat. imagery, radar and real-time wind reports.
Last year was a mild year for fronts with few actually making it very far
into Florida. This is unusual. This year, early indications are for a more
normal year of good to occasionally strong fronts, I hope. You can ride in
wind from most any direction in isolated areas on both the east and west
coasts of Florida. Typically though more areas on the east coast open up
for N to E to S winds while the west coast favors N to W to S winds.
FKA, Inc.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FKSA/
transcribed by:
Rick Iossi